If any of you had any doubt that Jonathan Pollard is anything other than a hostage being held by the United States, this should dispel them: The US is reportedly considering releasing Pollard as an incentive for Israel to go through with the release of 'Israeli Arab' terrorists at the end of this week in order to keep the 'peace talks' going.

The talks, which began last summer, were supposed to have concluded at the beginning of April with a framework for negotiations, to be written by Secretary of State John Kerry. But PA chief Mahmoud Abbas has made it clear numerous times that he will not concede on the Palestinian's core demands  an Israeli withdrawal from all of Judea, Samaria, and much of Jerusalem; free immigration of the descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 into Israel; and no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

Under such conditions, Netanyahu has told diplomats, there is no way he could get an agreement with the PA approved by his government.

The US, therefore, is considering various creative ideas to make the deal more appealing, the report said. Among them is an idea Netanyahu himself proposed  releasing Jonathan Pollard, who has been in an American prison for nearly three decades on charges of spying for Israel. The diplomats said that it was not clear Obama would agree to such a condition.

Actually, this report doesn't even mention the possibility of 'Israeli Arabs' being among the terrorists released. It just says that Israel doesn't want to go through with the fourth terrorist release at all. Hmmm....

Every time an administration gets the idea to release Pollard, the intelligence community puts its foot down. They are so serious about it that they would be willing to destroy a presidency to prevent it.

Ruthless doesn’t even describe it.

If push comes to shove, I would not be surprised if they killed Pollard to prevent his release.

Every time an administration gets the idea to release Pollard, the intelligence community puts its foot down. They are so serious about it that they would be willing to destroy a presidency to prevent it.

Ruthless doesnt even describe it.

If push comes to shove, I would not be surprised if they killed Pollard to prevent his release.

//////////////
I don’t get the hostility towards Pollard.

Pollard did wrong: He did the crime — and he has done the time. Now let him go to Israel, where he wants to be.

He was not giving intel to an enemy, as many others have done (and, at times, as I understand it, received lesser sentences).

It has been stated before that Pollard was given a very heavy sentence for what he did — heavier than the minimum sentence required.

Question are you and the “intel community” equally upset with Clinton for permitting missile tech to be given to the ChiComs. (Last I heard, he is not in prison.)

Once you give intel to someone, even a “friend”, you have no control of where that intel will wind up. I’ve heard some of the intel he gave to Israel, eventually fell into the hands of the ChiComs
//////////////////

I have to agree with your logic, and I do not doubt that what you heard is true.

Nonetheless, it does not abrogate any of my arguments, as trials determine intentions. There is no indication whatsoever Pollard’s intention was to give anything to the ChiComs.

Also, you failed to address the small matter of Bill Clinton, who remains scot free to this day.

I have no idea about the particular quirk that makes them so enraged at Pollard; what matters is that they are. Whenever it is proposed, they always send in their heaviest hitters, whoever has most pull in Washington, so it is no joke.

I would guess that whatever he did, it was a lot worse than what he was punished for; but both the US and Israel will not publicly say what that was.

Importantly, this would not be a first. In past, Israel has carried out some staggering espionage operations in the US that were so extraordinary that they were hushed up by both sides, such as the theft of nuclear weapons klystrons; and the enigmatic, but large scale effort by Israeli “art students” to penetrate the US DEA.

In the klystron case, it was a brilliant operation, and the unnamed man who was the ringleader was captured and sentenced to life in prison in an almost secret trial, after he plead guilty. This was not done casually, as it was a key element to the entire Israeli nuclear program.

In any event, I still think that, for whatever reason, the US intelligence community will again be adamant about Pollard.

Thank you for the explanation and heads-up. You clearly know more about this than I do. Hell, I have no idea what a klystron is.

However, when one considers that Bill Clinton permitted the give-away of missile tech to the ChiComs without spending so much as one hour in prison, it makes whatever Pollard did begin to assume less than mythical proportions.

Okay: I will say it: The CIA, etc, is riddled with anti-Semitism. I find some Jews loathsome, to be sure, but i certainly do not hate Jews in general, no do I hate Israel. Our spooks seem to be eaten up with hatred for Jews and Israel. (Probably makes them stupid, too.)

Klystrons are essential to nuclear weapons. They are the timer which sends electrical charges to the explosives that combine the nuclear material creating a critical mass. The more accurate the timer, the less nuclear material you need and the smaller you can make the bomb, and the missile that carries it.

Even the Soviet Union could never master creating high grade klystrons, so their nuclear weapons and missiles were perhaps twice the size of ours, and used a lot more nuclear material, yet on a per unit basis produced far less yield. Their gigantic Tsar bomba and others got around this by using a lot of nuclear material.

In any event, in perhaps one of the most brilliant intelligence operation of the 20th Century, Israel sent a team of top notch operatives to the US, who hacked our nuclear logistics computer system, and redirected some 200 high grade klystrons to the east coast, where they were put on board an Israeli aircraft and flown to Israel. Since they had everything else they needed, this meant that overnight they had 200 nuclear missiles for their Jericho missile installation.

As a final note about Pollard, consider the case of the Israeli Mordechai Vanunu, who was kidnapped from Italy, and spent 18 years in prison, is frequently rearrested, and cannot ever leave Israel. Just for talking about their nuclear program.

Pollard should dance at the end of a rope (with Hansen and Ames dancing by his side). Slick Willie belongs in prison, so does his beastly wife. That the execrable clintons are not in prison doesn’t excuse releasing Pollard.

Pollard should dance at the end of a rope (with Hansen and Ames dancing by his side). Slick Willie belongs in prison, so does his beastly wife. That the execrable clintons are not in prison doesnt excuse releasing Pollard.

//////////////////
While i disagree with your view of what Pollard deserves, I will gladly credit you for being at least somewhat consistent, by consigning the same putative penalty to Hansen and Ames.

Judging from some comments I have seen in this forum from time to time, some Pollard haters seem to be strangely obsessed only with him (probably, i am guessing, because he is a Joooo).

This isn't about me. Try to refrain from personal attacks. They discredit whatever point you're trying to make.

Now, to the actual point: pollard gets press, because for some strange reason pollard has a fan-club clamoring for his release. Ames, hansen, et al. do not. Arnold, of course, is long since dead. So it seems to me that the obsessed ones are the members of the pollard fan club. I'm unclear on the basis for their obsession; nothing I have seen from them remotely justifies pollard's crimes. The pollard fan club can pound sand.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.